History

London: Cassell and Company, 1901. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A handsome Edwardian half calf with gilt raised bands, splendid gilt tooling to the panels and twin labels. With bookplate reading: "George McKay. First King's Dragoon Guards". Illustrated with 16 colour plates and a plan of the castle, which is complete but with a tear on its fold.

London: George Bell and Sons, 1887. 2 volume set, 7 inches tall. A superb Victorian full calf binding by Worsfold with gilt raised bands, twin labels and ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Pink edges. From the library and with the gilt leather plate of Hannah, the Countess of Roseberry. Some offsetting of the plates and a small neat ink previous owner's name on the first blank. Lady Mary wrote notable letters describing her travels through Europe and the Ottoman Empire where she saw and wrote extensively concerning the practice of slavery along with the treatment of slaves by the Turks.

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1863-1887. 8 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A very good looking Victorian half calf binding by Mudie with gilt raised bands, neat gilt tooling to the panels and contrasting red and black labels. With the armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Longmore, the highly distinguished military doctor and surgeon famed for serving in every major engagement of the Crimean War, even while suffering from frostbite. Illustrated throughout with plans, many folding, of battle sites. A superb set of this great Military history with a splendid provenance.

London: Blackie & Son, 1878. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very good looking Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, label and ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Blind and gilt fillets frame the embossed gilt stamp of Cheltenham College on the upper board. There is a neat prize bookplate on the reverse of the front board. Vignettes and full page engravings. A superb example of this scarce title.

London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1875. 5 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very handsome set in Victorian half calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and elaborate gilt tooling to the panels. Illustrate with engravings as frontispieces to each volume and further full page plates in the text. There is foxing to the tissues which has affected most plates, otherwise clean. A splendid set of this classic history of Prince Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria.

London: Chatto & Windus, 1928. Half morocco. 8 3/4 inches tall. A fine copy in a smart half morocco with gilt raised bands and gilt framed panels. All edges gilt. A pristine copy of the first edition of this 'Tragic History' of the extraordinary romance between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, by a founding member of the Bloomsbury Group.

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1872-1874. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A handsome set in full calf with twin labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. With the armorial bookplate of the 1st Earl of Northbrook of Stratton Park, Viceroy of India 1872–1876. Slight foxing to the title pages, then clean. Originally planned as a 2 volume set, was then extended to 3. A fine set of this interesting work.

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1909. Half morocco, 8 3/4 inches tall. A superb half morocco binding by Asprey with gilt raised bands, appropriate gilt centre tools within smart gilt framed panels and gilt top edge. Embellished with a colour frontispiece and 51 half-tone plates. A thorough and nostalgic history of drinking and drinking culture in England going back to ancient times.

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907. Half morocco, 8 3/4 inches tall. A superb half morocco binding by Asprey with gilt raised bands, appropriate gilt centre tools within smart gilt framed panels and gilt top edge. Considerable foxing. Embellished with a colour frontispiece and 5 further colour plates and 32 half-tone plates. A thorough and nostalgic history of sport in England going back to ancient times.

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1911. Half morocco, 8 3/4 inches tall. A superb half morocco binding by Asprey with gilt raised bands, appropriate gilt centre tools within smart gilt framed panels and gilt top edge. Embellished with a colour frontispiece and further black and white plates throughout. A thorough and nostalgic history of food and drink in England going back to ancient times.

London: John Lane The Bodely Head Limited, 1922. Quarter morocco, 11 1/2 inches tall. A pristine quarter morocco by Asprey with gilt raised bands, nautical centre tools and top edge. Illustrated with 21 superb woodcuts. Limted to 75 copies printed on Japon vellum and signed by the artist, this example being number 52. Some foxing and marks to the original endpapers which are bound in. A superb copy of this evocative work.

Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1849 - 1850. 15 volume set, 9 inches tall. Superb Victorian full calf bound by Zaehnsdorf, with gilt raised bands, triple labels in red, black and green, and superb gilt tooling. With the armorial bookplate of Allan Harvey Drummond. Some marks and superficial loss to a long defunct insect to some boards, and some foxing to several plates, but overall in wonderful condition. Sir Archibald Alison's great history consists of 14 volumes plus a uniformly bound Atlas, which contains all 108 maps. The Atlas volume is 11 inches deep. With portraits. These 15 volumes cover the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815'. This set is complete as it was first published. It was continued some years later (See our other set).

London: Nattali and Bond, 1831. 2 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A charming and very scarce work describing a critical period in the history of Paris. Smartly bound in half morocco with a title label and dense gilt tooling on a smooth back. Embellished with a folding map of Paris, 13 engraved views and 26 wood-cuts. Armorial bookplates. Some foxing. This history contains an account of the revolution of 1789; the Tuileires, the Massacre of St Batholomew, Sieges of Paris and the Louvre.

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1831. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A plain but handsome half calf binding with raised bands and twin maroon labels. Lord Canning held senior cabinet posts before becoming Prime Minister in 1827, he also famously fought a duel with Lord Castlereagh, causing outrage that two cabinet ministers had resorted to such a method.

Paris: Chez Ant. Aug. Renouard, 1812. Half calf, 5 1/2 inches tall. A charming little English provincial binding with the binder's ticket of Tomkinson of Uttoxeter (see Charles Ramsden's Book Binders of the United Kingdom, page 164). With gilt bands, label and extra gilt panels on a smooth back. 2 pages of prints. In the original French.

London: Cadell et al., 1841-1846. 17 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A magnificent Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine, dense and bright gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt fillets frame the boards. Portraits of Hume and Smollett. With the armorial bookplate of Ramsey Abbey. The first 6 volumes cover the 'History of England' from the 'Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688' by David Hume. The next four volumes are a continuation by Tobias Smollett 'From the Revolution to the Death of George the Second'. The concluding seven volumes, by T.S. Hughes, cover the period from 'The Accession of George III., 1760, to the Accession of Queen Victoria, 1837'. A beautiful looking set of this great history.

London: John W. Parker and Son, 1858-1870. 12 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A splendid set in Victorian full straight grain calf with gilt raised bands and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Foxing to the preliminaries, then clean. The 12 volume set is divided into two sets of 6 volumes both entitled 'The Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth'. Portrait. A fine Country House set from the Library of Bridehead in Dorset.